Puddle Duck Racer Wheels and Load 

Thanks!

To get the base boat sail-able I had somewhere in the neighborhood of 90 hours of actual touch labor. This isn't time standing there staring at it drinking coffee figuring out how to best do the next thing, just building time. Honestly, around 20 to 25 hours was my version of making it pretty, and or more robust. I built my transom strong enough to handle a 15hp outboard which is not really standard (or recommended?) for a PDR. Curving the pieces for the top near the mast and the transom took time, as did laying out and building up the front compartment door. Stenciling the designs on the sides with the kids, and then varnishing everything except the bottom was all time consuming. If I had built everything square and just painted it a single color, I'd likely have shaved off 15 to 20 hours. Shorty says on the PDR website, that you can build this boat in 5 days or 2.5 weekends. I think that's very realistic, as long as you don't go nuts on the finish, and simply don't quit until it's done. Set up your build somewhere you have to walk by the thing on the way into the house, make it intentionally in your way, then do something small every day for 15 minutes. Worst case scenario you'll have a boat in 6 months, and have invested less than $2 per day. Scratch the PDR itch!

Yes, the part stack is all built around a piece of 24" long all threaded rod. The stack on that rod from outboard to inboard is: nyloc nut, washer, wheel, washer, 4" spacer, nyloc nut. There is no retention of the approximately 19 inches of all thread in the electrical metal conduit though, just stays put for the short distances that I use it. Shorty has some photos that are a bit more closeup on his website under one of my articles if that would help. pdracer.com

He probably stole those from some poor grandpa or grandma. Those are from a wheelchair 😞. Shame on you Jonathan.

Definitely taken from a wheelchair, but likely kept some poor soul from falling through the cracked and rotting vinyl. I like sleeping at night too much to ask ANYONE's grandma to sit in what was left of the donor chair🙂

Great questions! My background? I science EVERYTHING to death. It is from this perspective that I answer these questions, so hear me out. Yes a center board would be "better" than the lee board (side board). However it's worse because it takes waaayy longer to build, and intentionally puts a hole in the boat below the waterline. A boat that isn't as reliable, and a boat that's not in the water yet isn't better. I have personally sailed mine without the boom when the wind was so strong that I couldn't use the full sail, works fine, but it sails to windward way better with the boom due to shape control, and in light winds it can make the difference between sailing and not sailing. The difference is literally $10 because my boom is a closet pole. I think a bevel would be an awesome idea and would make the boat look great, but it would very likely double the build time. For reference, I've made an attachment that drug a 48" long square corner in the water on the back of my PDR and the difference in speed was not measurable from the class shaped hull, even with an extra 200 lbs on board. Unless you make it longer, it will not sail measurably faster, no matter what the angle of the sides is, it will just look different. Here's the thing to keep in mind. The primary qualities of the PDR are as follows: Cheap, Stone simple and fast to build, Extremely capable and stable for an 8 foot boat. That said, I love tinkering and experimenting with boats. I've tried at least 5 kinds of propulsion on my PDR, have built a hull shape changing attachment and am currently building a 48 inch extension to go on the back. It's a great tinkering platform. However, my advice to anyone considering this boat is this: Go build the boat. Stop thinking about it and go build it. Stop making it more complicated and go build it. Build the very highest quality, but simplest PDR that your budget and skills can muster. Then, while you're sailing around ON THE WATER, do your dreaming, do your "next timing", but go build it now. As long as the gas tank on your truck isn't so low that you cant get to the lumberyard and back, and you have the mental fortitude to drive past the $6.00 coffee stand, then for the less than $20 and an hour of your time, you have what it takes to become a boat builder TONIGHT.

@@jonathanhuddleston4243 Thank you for the great reply. U r ready to start a motivation channel! I am just learning & scheming, not in position to start building yet but its fun to start doing the homework. I want to use a leg of mutton rig, to minimize head bangs, and slow and stable is fine w me. Yeah ... the beveled chines is not important i think. The prospect of slapping wave action makes me want to add something other than the purely boxy front end. I also want to try to add a self bailing/draining transom idea ... do obviously not ready for any building yet. I may just get a sunfish for next summer while i research kits and scheme the "perfect" pretty but simple boat to build over a couple of years ... i am thinking of a simpler, boxier, smaller version of something called "wyliecat 17". Your action encouragement is well taken - thats the sunfish for me. The vanity hobby boat project lives on too, though :) Lots to learn. Thanks again.

PDR 1068 is built from Revolutionply and the original build was 96lbs. After about 3 years of use, I realized the bottom was starting to have a few small issues, so I sanded it all down, filled some soft spots, and then xynoled and epoxied the bottom, creating an approximately .025" thick additional layer on the entire underside and up 1.25" on each side. It now weighs 103lbs. These are hull only numbers, mast, sail, rudder, leeboard all add to this.